The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a cable connector with a cover that aligns and terminates cables onto corresponding individual contacts in the connector.
Electronic systems, such as computers, comprise a wide array of components that are interconnected to transfer signals and power throughout the system. Many such systems utilize groups of cables that have individual conductors separately surrounded by insulation. The insulated conductors may be joined with one another, such as in a ribbon cable, or maintained as individual insulated conductors. The cables transfer data signals and/or power between components of the system through connectors that are attached to opposite ends of one cable or groups of cables. Each connector includes at least one contact for each insulated conductor. During assembly, the cables are manually joined to corresponding contacts and connectors.
A wide variety of contacts have been proposed to facilitate joinder of the contacts with corresponding cables. One type of contact is an insulation displacement crimp (IDC) contact which generally includes a body formed with a transverse blade having a slot cut into the blade. An individual cable is positioned above the slot and pressed onto edges of the blade on both sides of the slot. The blade edges cut the insulation on the cable and the exposed conductor of the cable is inserted into the slot to form an electrical connection between the cable and the contact. The blade of the IDC contact is oriented perpendicular to the body of the contact and to the length of the cable. Thus, when multiple contacts are located next to one another within a connector, the connector's overall width becomes overly wide.
However, as connectors are made smaller, IDC contacts with thinner profiles are needed. In addition, the conductors are formed with smaller diameters. Consequently, it has become more difficult during manual assembly to align properly the conductors of each cable with the IDC contacts in order that the blades properly pierce the insulation when the cables are pressed onto the IDC contacts. Heretofore, the cables were manually aligned with the IDC contacts, such as with a tool resembling a comb that held a group of cables in a desired spacing. The user first loaded the cables into the comb-like tool. The cables were then located above the IDC contacts and the user pressed the cables into the IDC contacts. In addition, the individual cables may be separately attached to the contacts manually. However, these manual assembly processes were susceptible to alignment errors and were time consuming.
A need remains for an electrical connector that facilitates loading of multiple cables directly into a connector and that maintains proper alignment with corresponding contacts as the cables are pressed onto the contacts.